US stocks tumbled yesterday as investors sold off under the mounting pressure of surging interest rates propelled by fresh inflation worries.

The Dow Jones industrial average slid 156.78 points to 8,031.22. It was the ninth-largest point decline ever for the blue-chip average.

In the broader market, decliners beat advancers 2,456 to 526 on heavy volume of 561 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange. For the week, the Dow fell 162.82 points.

As on Thursday, when the Dow fell 71 points, stocks got hurt Friday by weakness in the bond market, where the yield on the 30-year Treasury jumped to 6.64 per cent from 6.53 per cent.